To Keep Her Safe is All I Know

Chapter 20

The rest of Tori's birthday was hard for both Chris and Melanie. Every year on Tori's birthday, Melanie broke down. And every year, Chris tried to be strong for her, but he usually ended up breaking down as well. Melanie didn't always cry because as previously mentioned, Melanie wasn't much of a crier. But she'd drink or yell or get frustrated.     

After a while, Melanie passed out. This was when Chris took a moment to shed a few tears for Tori, as she'd been like an older sister to him before she'd died. She'd been so good to him growing up and was so excited when she'd heard that Chris wanted to play with his band in the talent show that year. Tori had even said that she would try to come home to Scranton that weekend to see him play...but she never got to.     

Chris never held any kind of ill will towards anyone about that though. He knew better. Chris missed Tori like crazy and what happened to her was awful, but Chris never treated the girls at his shows wearing hijabs with any less respect than anyone else.     

Chris spent the rest of the day taking care of Melanie, and Sadie came home later that night. She said she'd already eaten, but Chris made her a quick bite to eat anyway. He didn't mind. Chris told Sadie the same thing that Melanie had told her; that Melanie was sick and needed rest.     

"Is she gonna be okay?" Sadie asks.

"She will be, yeah."

"Is she gonna be sick tomorrow too?"

"Maybe. She might actually be worse tomorrow. I'll be here to help take care of her though."

"Are you gonna stay the night?"

"Probably. I've crashed in you guys' guest room plenty of times, just like you guys have stayed at my place."

"That didn't really start until Mommy and Daddy got divorced though."

"Yeah, but sometimes things change, you know?"

"Yeah..."

There's a pause.

"Are you gonna be gone for a long time when you leave for tour again?" Sadie asks.

"Not a super long time. Just three weeks."

Sadie pouts, "But I miss you when you're gone." She says before going over to hug him.

Chris hugs her back, "I miss you too, kiddo, but you know I always come back for you."

"Yeah..."

"I'll try to get you and your mom into one of our shows again. You had fun at the last one, right?"

"Yeah, it was awesome! I totally wanna go to another one!"

"Then you totally will! But right now, it's an hour past your bedtime, so you should probably get ready for sleep."

"Oh, okay. I'm gonna take Fred outside one last time first." Sadie says before walking off to take Fred outside.

Chris heads upstairs to check on Melanie to see if she was still asleep. She was about half asleep, and squinted her eyes at Chris.

"Chris?" She asks, groggily.

"Hey, how you feeling?"

"Like shit. Is Sadie okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine, she's taking Fred out and then I'll put her to bed."

"You don't have to do that."

"Why not? I've done it before. You need to rest because you're probably still gonna feel like shit tomorrow so you're gonna need the energy to deal with it."